Boris Johnson news - live: Rayner condemns ‘perverted’ Tory smear as PM hits out at anonymous ‘misogyny’
Ms Rayner had been accused by her Tory colleagues of putting the prime minister ‘off his stride’ in the Commons
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Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner has hit out at a story in the Mail on Sunday this morning which suggested she had been using a “Basic Instinct ploy” to distract Boris Johnson in the Commons.
The paper claimed that Ms Rayner had been accused by her Tory colleagues of putting the prime minister “off his stride” in the chamber by crossing and uncrossing her legs.
Ms Rayner said she believed the prime minister was himself behind the the “desperate, perverted smears” which likened her body language toward the PM to Sharon Stone’s iconic scene in the 1992 erotic thriller.
Prime minister Boris Johnson has since been forced to publicly denounce the blatant “misogyny” directed at the Labour MP for Ashton-under-Lyne.
Tweeting today, Mr Johnson said: “As much as I disagree with Angela Rayner on almost every political issue I respect her as a parliamentarian and deplore the misogyny directed at her anonymously today.”
But the PM’s criticism has become the subject of ridicule on Twitter after beady-eyed users spotted that culture secretary Nadine Dorries shared an identical tweet in condemnation of the accusations against Ms Rayner.
Good afternoon. We are pausing our live politics updates for the day, but will be back bright and early tomorrow morning to bring you all the latest from Whitehall and beyond.
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“Criminal charges are brought all the time, elections or no elections. It’s in the public interest to know who has received fines, particularly those high up in Government.”
According to reports, fine notices have started landing in the email inboxes of officials who attended a “bring your own bottle” drinks do in the No 10 garden on 20 May 2020 during England’s first lockdown.
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“And when I say a lot, I mean a lot; in Boris’s own words, they started accumulating ‘like drifting snow on the windshield’.
Mr Jones added: “I once worked out that, over the decade he worked for GQ, Boris had cost us about £4,000 in parking tickets.
“But then he’d also written more than a hundred incredibly funny motoring columns, so I figured it was worth it.”
Mr Jones said that “interestingly” Mr Johnson never received any speeding tickets.
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“When the cars were delivered to his house in Islington, the car company always made a note of the mileage, something that is standard practice. The mileage would also be noted when they came to pick them up again. And on more than one occasion - OK, on many, many, many occasions - the mileage was precisely the same. So I leave you to draw your own conclusions.”
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Claims that Tories accuse Angela Rayner of ‘Basic Instinct’ ploy to distract PM ‘ludicrous’, says party chair
Claims that Conservative MPs have accused Angela Rayner of deliberately distracting Boris Johnson by crossing and uncrossing her legs in the Commons are “ludicrous”, the party chair says.
Anger is growing over an extraordinary newspaper story that Tories liken the deputy Labour leader’s tactics to a fully-clothed equivalent of Sharon Stone’s infamous scene in the film Basic Instinct.
It has been widely condemned as blatant sexism – while also reflecting badly on Mr Johnson himself, if he cannot focus when confronted with a woman’s legs.
But Oliver Dowden dismissed the claims, in The Mail on Sunday, while carefully stopping short of a denial that certain Conservatives may have made the allegation.
Our deputy political editor Rob Merrick reports:
Tories call claim that Angela Rayner accused of ‘Basic Instinct’ ploy ‘ludicrous’
Anger growing over ‘sexist’ story that Tories liken deputy Labour leader’s tactics to fully-clothed version of Sharon Stone’s infamous scene
Angela Rayner hits out at claims she uses a ‘Basic Instinct ploy’ to distract PM
Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner has hit out at a story in the Mail on Sunday this morning which suggested she had been using a Basic Instinct “ploy” to distract Boris Johnson.
The paper claimed that Ms Rayner had been accused by her Tory colleagues of putting the PM “off his stride” in the Commons by crossing and uncrossing her legs.
Tweeting today, she said: “Women in politics face sexism and misogyny every day - and I’m no different. This morning’s is the latest dose of gutter journalism courtesy of @MoS_Politics.
“I stand accused of a “ploy” to “distract” the helpless PM - by being a woman, having legs and wearing clothes. I am conspiring to “put him off his stride”. The rest I won’t repeat - but you get the picture.”
She later added: “I hope this experience doesn’t put off a single person like me, with a background like mine from aspiring to participate in public life. That would break my heart.”
Her thread is available to read in full here:
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